Adaptor brick

ABSTRACT

An adaptor brick includes a main body having a first coupling structure and a second coupling structure. The first coupling structure is used for coupling with a bottom portion of a first brick or a second brick while the second coupling structure is used for coupling with a top portion of the first brick or the second brick.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an adaptor brick, more particularly to an adaptor brick that is used for interconnecting two different construction bricks or toy bricks, which are manufactured from two different toy companies or groups.

2. The Prior Arts

A well-known popular toy company, generally known as “The Lego Group” of Denmark, has manufactured a series of construction toys, which are assembled by interlocking a plurality of colorful bricks of different sizes. The basic bricks are called Lego bricks and the latter can be assembled and connected in many ways, to construct a variety of themes, including town and city, space, buildings, and even working robots. Anything constructed can then be taken apart again, and the brick pieces used to make other objects. What attract the player's attention is that, the Lego bricks produced twenty years ago can still be used today together with the currently produced bricks and can inspire the player to create some imaginary views or scene by interlocking the bricks in many different methods.

The Lego Group has released thousands of sets with a variety of themes, including town and city, space, robots. Since the price for each set of the themes is not relatively cheap, several other toy manufacturers have stepped into this field to develop toy bricks with a relatively cheap price. The TICO brick manufactured by Shiarn Fur Industry Co., Ltd. is another choice for the players due to its relatively cheap price and in addition to several sets of models. Presently, there are several toy brick producers in the market, which more or less copies the design of a top portion of the brick manufactured by the Lego Group or the Shiarn Fur.

The toy bricks produced by the above-mentioned two firms have their individual advantage and have their own audience and players. It will be an admirable idea to develop an interlocking part (adaptor brick) that is meant to encourage creativity and arts and crafts such that the toy bricks manufactured by two firms can be assembled or connected by the interlocking part in order to form a set of themes, including well-known buildings or famous scene.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, the objective of the present invention is to provide an adaptor brick that is adapted to interlock the toy bricks manufactured by above-mentioned two groups.

The adaptor brick of the present invention includes a main body having a first coupling structure and a second coupling structure. The first coupling structure is used for coupling with a bottom portion of a first brick or a second brick, wherein the first and second bricks have the same or different dimensions while the second coupling structure is used for coupling with a top portion of the first brick or the second brick.

The first brick is preferably a Lego brick produced by the Lego Group while the second brick is a TICO brick produced by the Shiarn Fur. The Lego brick preferably has a top projection with a diameter ranging from 4.85 mm˜4.95 mm dimension while the TICO brick has a top projection with a diameter ranging from 2.45 mm˜2.55 mm.

In the present invention, the first coupling structure consists of 4 units of a quarter cylindrical block. The 4 units of the quarter cylindrical blocks are spaced apart from one another in such a manner to define two straight recesses one transversely crossing the other. The second coupling structure of the present invention is a dented recess. The dented recess preferably consists of a major dented recess and two pairs of minor dented recesses in spatial communication with the major dented recess.

Since the adaptor brick of the present invention can conform with the Lego brick or TICO brick, a player can assemble by interlocking a plurality of the Lego bricks or TICO bricks into a desired themes, such as Eiffel Tower or Great Wall of China, with the used of the adaptor brick of the present invention together with those sets of elements released by the Lego Group.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of this invention will become more apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of this invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an adaptor brick of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a top planar view of the adaptor brick of the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows a bottom planar view of the adaptor brick of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view illustrating a toy brick (A) manufactured from a first toy company;

FIG. 5 shows a perspective view illustrating another toy brick (B) manufactured from a second toy company;

FIG. 6 is a lateral side view illustrating how the bricks shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 are interlocked by the adaptor brick of the present invention;

FIG. 7 shows a bottom view of a modified adaptor brick of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 shows a bottom view of another modified adaptor brick of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, wherein FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an adaptor brick 1 of the present invention, while FIG. 2 shows a top planar view of the adaptor brick 1 of the present invention and FIG. 3 shows a bottom planar view of the adaptor brick 1 of the present invention.

As illustrated, the adaptor brick 1 of the present invention includes a rectangular main body made from plastic material and having a first coupling structure 11 and a second coupling structure 12. The first coupling structure 11 is used for coupling with a bottom portion of a first brick (A) or a second brick (B) (see FIG. 6) while the second coupling structure 12 is used for coupling with a top portion of the first brick (A) or the second brick (B) (see FIG. 6), a detailed description thereof will be given in the following paragraphs.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the first coupling structure 11 preferably consists of 4 units of a quarter cylindrical block 111. In this embodiment, the 4 units of the quarter cylindrical blocks 111 are formed on the top surface of the main body and are spaced apart from one another in such a manner to define two straight recesses 112 one transversely crossing the other. Preferably, each of the quarter cylindrical blocks 111 has a truncated tapered portion that is located adjacent to an axis of a respective cylinder defined by the 4 units of the quarter cylindrical blocks 111. In other embodiments, in order to complement with the Lego brick or the TICO brick, which bottom is formed with an engagement recess for conforming to the first coupling structure 11 of the present invention, the first coupling structure 11 preferably may consist of one cylindrical block, 2 units of half-cylindrical blocks, a triangular block or a prism block or a rectangular block for interlocking the engagement recess of the Lego brick or the TICO brick. Moreover, the width of the straight recess 112 defined between two adjacent pairs of the quarter cylindrical blocks can be varied according to the requirement of the Lego brick or TICO brick.

Referring to FIG. 3, the second coupling structure 12 of the present invention is a dented recess. Preferably, the dented recess consists of a major dented recess 121 and two pairs of minor dented recesses 122 in spatial communication with the major dented recess 121. Preferably, each pair of the minor dented recesses 122 is formed at two symmetric sides of the major dented recess 121 and in spatial communication with the major dented recess 121. In other embodiments, in order to complement with the Lego brick or the TICO brick, which top portion is formed with an engagement block for conforming to the second coupling structure 12 of the present invention, the second coupling structure 12 preferably may consist of one cylindrical recess, 2 units of half-cylindrical recesses, a triangular recess or a prism-shaped recess or a rectangular recess for interlocking the engagement block of the Lego brick or the TICO brick. Under this condition, the shapes or configurations of the major dented recess 121 should not be limited only to one unit while the minor dented recesses 12 should not be limited only to four units.

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view illustrating a first toy brick (A) manufactured by the Lego Group, which top portion is formed with at least one cylindrical projection A1 with a diameter ranging from 4.85 mm˜4.95 mm and which bottom portion is formed with a plurality of engagement protrusions A2 with a relatively low height. Note the cylindrical projection A1 of one first toy brick A is interlockable between adjacent two engagement protrusions A2 of the other first toy brick A.

FIG. 5 shows a perspective view illustrating a TICO toy brick (B) manufactured from the Shiarn Fur Industry Co., which top portion is formed with two rows of cylindrical projection B1 with a diameter ranging from 2.45 mm˜2.55 mm and which bottom portion is formed with an elongated engagement protrusion B2 defined by two elongated plates. Note the engagement protrusion B2 of one TICO brick B is interlockable between two rows of the cylindrical projection B1 of the other TICO toy brick B.

FIG. 6 is a lateral side view illustrating how the toy bricks shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 are interlocked by the adaptor brick 1 of the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, wherein three adaptor bricks 1 of the present invention are used for interlocking the Lego brick (A) shown in FIG. 4 and the TICO brick (B) shown in FIG. 5. Under this condition, the second coupling structure 12 formed at the bottom portion of the main body 1, includes a dented recess constituted by the major recess 121 for interlocking the cylindrical projection A1 of the Lego brick (A), while the 4 units of the quarter cylindrical blocks 111 formed on the top portion of the main body 1 cooperatively define a generally cylindrical projection extending into and interlocking a space defined by on end of the Lego brick (A) and a respective engagement protrusions A2 of the Lego brick (A) disposed thereabove.

The second coupling structure 12 formed at the bottom portion of the main body 1, includes the dented recess that is further constituted by two pairs of minor recesses 122, each pair is formed at two symmetric sides of the major recess 121 such that two pairs of minor recesses 122 are used for interlocking two adjacent pairs of the cylindrical projection B1 of the TICO brick (B) while the engagement protrusion B2 of the TICO brick B is interlocked within the straight recess 112 defined by 4 units of the quarter cylindrical blocks 111 cooperatively defining the first coupling structure 11 of the present invention, as best shown in FIG. 2.

Note that FIGS. 1-3 illustrate one preferred embodiment of the adaptor brick of the present invention, however the scope of the present invention should not be limited only the disclosed Figures, but the structures of the first and second coupling structures 11 and 12 should also include other configurations so long as the first and second coupling structures 11, 12 can interlock with the Lego or TICO bricks (A, B).

FIG. 7 shows a bottom view of a modified adaptor brick 1 of the present invention, in which, the second coupling structure 12 is constituted by two major recesses 121, two pairs of minor recesses 122, each pair being in spatial communication with the respective major recess 121 and a generally rectangular recess between the major recesses 121.

FIG. 8 shows a bottom view of another modified adaptor brick of the present invention, in which, the second coupling structure 12 is constituted by two medium size recesses 121A, two pairs of minor size recesses 122A, each pair being in spatial communication with the respective medium size recess 121A and a major size rectangular recess between the medium size recesses 121A.

Note that the major recess 121, the medium size recess 121A, the minor recess 122, the minor size recess 122A, the rectangular recess and the major size rectangular recess shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 are some examples only, any other configuration, such as circular, prism, curves can be included in the second coupling structure 12 so long as they can provide interlock engagement with the Lego or TICO brick (A, B).

While the invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An adaptor brick comprising: a main body having a first coupling structure and a second coupling structure, said first coupling structure being used for coupling with a bottom portion of a first brick or a second brick, said second coupling structure being used for coupling with a top portion of said first brick or said second brick.
 2. The adaptor brick according to claim 1, wherein said first coupling structure consists of 4 units of a quarter cylindrical block.
 3. The adaptor brick according to claim 2, each of said quarter cylindrical blocks has a truncated tapered portion that is located adjacent to an axis of a respective cylinder defined by said 4 units of said quarter cylindrical blocks.
 4. The adaptor brick according to claim 3, wherein said 4 units of said quarter cylindrical blocks are spaced apart from one another in such a manner to define two straight recesses one transversely crossing the other.
 5. The adaptor brick according to claim 1, wherein said second coupling structure is a dented recess.
 6. The adaptor brick according to claim 4, wherein said second coupling structure is a dented recess.
 7. The adaptor brick according to claim 5, wherein said dented recess consists of a major dented recess and two pairs of minor dented recesses in spatial communication with said major dented recess.
 8. The adaptor brick according to claim 6, wherein said dented recess consists of a major dented recess and two pairs of minor dented recesses, each pair being formed at two symmetric sides of said major dented recess and in spatial communication with said major dented recess. 